My 454 Rebuild

[Spareparts]

I seem to suck at taking pics but here goes.
Pics are posted in order.
So here is the report for today.
Today old engine was removed but i did not get a chance to clean up the engine bay like i wanted so oh well about that. Once out a few parts were swapped over like knock sensors and that kinda stuff.
Rebuilt engine was installed and most of the afternoon was spent just turning bolts and hooking up wires.
About 3:30 got it fired up! Valve train was making a little noise but was quieting down after a few minutes. Sounds like two rockers will need a little more adjusting. All good though really. The only real problem is the distributor is 1 tooth retarded as cmp is -118 and i can't turn it any further.
Only had it running for about 20 minutes. Just enough to open the thermostat. I was pretty beat after yesterday and today so called it quits for today and will finish tomorrow.
Should only be a couple more hours then done.
Kinda surprised me that it took almost 7 gallons of antifreeze to fill it up!
Another interesting thing is when i was un bolting the torque converter it was not that hard to turn from bolt to bolt. When bolting it up and turning the crank to go to the next bolt it has WAY more compression. I don't know what it was but i will find out what it is.

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[454cid]

Today old engine was removed but i did not get a chance to clean up the engine bay like i wanted so oh well about that.

There is no way, I could pull an engine and not pressure wash everything in sight. It would bother me to no end. My interior could look like a racoon lived there, but I'm going to have a clean engine bay

Kinda surprised me that it took almost 7 gallons of antifreeze to fill it up!

Yes, our cooling systems are huge, if you're used to 4cyl fwd cars. I think the system in my Saturn was 7 quarts. I had a hard time believing I could buy one gallon of concentrated coolant, and have some left over.

 

[Spareparts]

There was no way for me to clean it Its being done at a shirt tail in laws operating repair shop and he does not have a pressure washer or a place to even do it.
I'll get it clean somehow. I do have a steam cleaner at home that will help for sure but still will not be easy.

 

[454cid]

There was no way for me to clean it Its being done at a shirt tail in laws operating repair shop and he does not have a pressure washer or a place to even do it.
I'll get it clean somehow. I do have a steam cleaner at home that will help for sure but still will not be easy.

Bummer, I was thinking maybe it was cold weather. If you pull the plastic skid plate down you get a loy better access to the bottom side. Also, pull the fan shroud.

I'm not sure what you've got for a steam cleaner. I had some silly household thing at one point, but it was junk. The ones detailers use look pretty cool, but quite expensive. I bought a little electric pressure washer, and an aftermarket hose and gun for it, that works pretty well.

Did you get new exhaust manifolds? Mine rusted badly and a thin layer flaked off of them years ago.

 

[Spareparts]

Going off subject here a little bit.
Truck's out here in the wild west do not seem to rust like the big city folks back east. Seems like every old chevy i have had has been rust free.
Well they do have surface rust but it's not typically the eat your frame away kinda rust. You will also find most have solid cab corners, rockers, and bolts turn like thy should.
Out here they die from abuse, neglect and hey hold my beer!.
I also have a 2005 Avalanche the wife drives. It came from back east and it is a rusting out pile that runs and drives perfect. It only has 129K on it that we bought at 99K miles probably 6 years ago or so. It was rusty underneath then and it just gets worse every year.
I want to get her a OBS truck but being a typical girl she only thinks newer is better and only looks at 2010 trucks and newer. They ain't cheap and i ain't rich. This year or maybe next i'll have to break down and do it though.
So back to the exhaust manifolds. No they were not rusted heavily just light surface rust.
I do have a spare set now as well as a perfect fuel rail with all clips and mounting points intact and good egr tube.

 

[letitsnow]

Going off subject here a little bit.
Truck's out here in the wild west do not seem to rust like the big city folks back east. Seems like every old chevy i have had has been rust free.
Well they do have surface rust but it's not typically the eat your frame away kinda rust. You will also find most have solid cab corners, rockers, and bolts turn like thy should.
Out here they die from abuse, neglect and hey hold my beer!.
I also have a 2005 Avalanche the wife drives. It came from back east and it is a rusting out pile that runs and drives perfect. It only has 129K on it that we bought at 99K miles probably 6 years ago or so. It was rusty underneath then and it just gets worse every year.
I want to get her a OBS truck but being a typical girl she only thinks newer is better and only looks at 2010 trucks and newer. They ain't cheap and i ain't rich. This year or maybe next i'll have to break down and do it though.
So back to the exhaust manifolds. No they were not rusted heavily just light surface rust.
I do have a spare set now as well as a perfect fuel rail with all clips and mounting points intact and good egr tube.

Coming from the rust belt - if you buy a spray gun for applying something like fluid film, then use it to accidentally spray your waste oil all over the bottom of the avy once a year, that thing will last. It makes working on it suck, but basically stops the rust.

 

[Spareparts]

Got it out of the shop and put about 10 miles on it. Seems to be running good but it does have a slight miss. I think Black Bear will need to tune it for sure because there is no other reason for it except the tune.
Definitely has more power but i already knew it would.
I have two rockers that need adjusting but want to let it cool off first so later today or tomorrow morning i'll do that.
Hot oil pressure is 20psi with 5w-30 blended oil. Way better than 5psi with 15w-50.
Now i just need to get the rockers adjusted and drive it! Here is a running pic.

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[Spareparts]

Just wondering here.
My old engine was idling about as perfect as a new truck.
My new rebuild seems to be slightly missing at idle and a little off idle but seems to smooth out at about 1/4 throttle and beyond. I would think just changing the engine to a basically stock new engine should not matter that much to the tune as it should compensate for slight variations but what do you think? The cam offset is 0.7ish to +0.5ish so well within specs.
Wonder if re adjusting the valves might help? Maybe it just needs to run more. still not even ran a hour yet.
Thinking of going back to the old black box ecu because depending on someone 50 miles away for a tune really sucks!.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

You need to do some WOT runs. From 0-50ish maybe 60, coast down, brake to a stop, then do it again. Heat and cylinder pressure seats the rings.

 

[Spareparts]

Got something that is vibrating underneath at a certain rpm. Wanna fix that then go do some wot pulls once it is good and fully warmed up plan on about 100 miles today also.